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Neanderthals were a species that existed on Earth during human prehistory.
They lived in Western Europe during the Ice Age. (AUDIO: The Exxilons)
Biology
Physically very like humans, they had jutting brow ridges, large noses and stooped postures. However, while stereotyped as brutish by later humans, Nimrod showed intelligence and spoke articulately. (TV: Ghost Light)
Culture
The tribe which Nimrod originally belonged to herded mammoths during the summer for food. They considered the fang of the cave bear to be a sign of wisdom. The tribal elders "spoke with the voice of the Burning One", namely Light. The actions of the Seventh Doctor implied that, at some time in the past, the Doctor had encountered the Neanderthal species some time before. (TV: Ghost Light)
According to the the Fourth Doctor, the Neanderthals could knock up a good Mammoth casserole. (PROSE: The Romance of Crime)
History
The Fifth Doctor hoped to observe the point of first contact between the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons circa 40000 BC. He failed to witness the event, not realising that his observation of them was the cause of the first contact. (PROSE: Observation)
The Eleventh Doctor arrived with Amy Pond in Birmingham during the Ice Age just in time to save a Neanderthal man from a sabre-toothed tiger. (COMIC: Snow Globe)
According to one account, the Neanderthals were mostly wiped out by the humans, with the help of the Dæmons. (TV: The Dæmons) They were believed to be wiped out around 26,000 BC. (PROSE: Only Human)
According to another account, Neanderthals were targeted by Hivers and Monaxi, who were kidnapping them and forcing to fight in gladiator-like arenas, collecting the life energy of those killed. According to this account, Neanderthals completely disappeared by around 26,900 BC. Ebonite had one such arena with multiple Neanderthal tribes under the Rockefeller Center in 21st-century New York. After the defeat of Ebonite, Effrid Blunk and his team set out on a quest to relocate Neanderthals from this Arena of Fear and ensure the survival of his kind. (COMIC: Arena of Fear)
Some Neanderthal societies, such as Enkidu's, survived well past the palaeolithic Ice Ages. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys)
Nimrod was preserved as the last specimen of his species as part of the Catalogue of Life by the alien survey team headed by Light. In 1883, Josiah Samuel Smith awoke him and employed him as his butler. (TV: Ghost Light)
A Neanderthal named Das was accidentally transported from 29,185 BC to Bromley in 2006. (PROSE: Only Human)
Other planets
Jack Harkness used the term "neanderthals" to describe primitive humanoid inhabitants of Traxis that coexisted with dinosaurs, mammoths and robots due to a fracture in time. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)
K9 compared the Tarl of E9874 to Tellurian Neanderthals. (AUDIO: The Exxilons)